Griffin (The Invisible Man)
Griffin is a 19th century British scientist who discovered a formula to render himself invisible. A short-tempered megalomaniac, he took advantage of his invisibility to commit crimes with impunity and at one point attempted to create what he himself described as a "Reign of Terror". Griffin's first name is not revealed in the novel, but he has been given one in some adaptations. In the 1933 Universal film, he is Jack Griffin. In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comics, he is Hawley Griffin. Biology Before he turned himself invisible, Griffin was already an albino. He was a strong man, about six feet (~ 1.8 meters) in height, with pale skin, white hair, and red eyes. His formula works by altering the refractive index of living organic tissue. Most of the human body is already devoid of pigments, with the exception of the blood cells, skin, hair, and eyes. In Griffin's case, being an albino, he only had to work out a method to replace the red pigments of his blood with colorless ones. Luckily for him, in his years of experimentation, he had already stumbled upon a way to turn human blood transparent without any negative effect on its functions. Now completely colorless, altering the refractive index of his tissues resulted in a completely invisible body. After becoming invisible, the only part of him that still retained any kind of pigmentation were his pupils (otherwise he wouldn't be able to see), but this was so faint that it was barely noticeable. His formula works only on living tissues. Therefore, if he's wounded, he may leave visible blood behind. Any food he consumes will also remain visible in his stomach for some time until it is assimilated by his organism. When he died, his whole body became visible again. History Griffin was a problematic man, as brilliant as he was narcissistic. He was a violent, ambitious, egotistical, and short-tempered individual, and showed clear signs of sociopathy. After studying medicine at the university, Griffin shifted his focus towards physics, particularly the optical properties of organic materials. After discovering a way to turn red blood colorless without any collateral effects, he started working on ways to alter the refractive index of tissues, making them as transparent as air. His first success was with a piece of wool fabric. During all this time, Griffin worked alone, and intentionally avoided the inquiries of his professor, Oliver, for the fear that the latter would steal credit from his discoveries. Griffin spent the next three years isolated in his laboratory, planning to reveal his results once everything was complete, and not before that. When he ran out of money, he stole from more his father. However, Griffin found that the money hadn't actually belonged to his father to begin with. His indebted father committed suicide as a result, but even then, Griffin felt no guilt, and attended the funeral purely out of social obligation. He was surprised to visit his hometown and meet with the people he had known from childhood, and felt that none of that belonged to his life anymore, almost as if none of it was real. Only his lab and research were real to him, and that was all he cared about. Griffin lived alone in a small apartment in Chesilstowe, where he conducted all of his experiments. His first living test subject was a white cat, which he succeeded in making almost completely invisible. Only the cat's claws and the tapetum lucidum of its eyes remained visible. The procedure, however, was quite painful for the animal, and the cat's loud laments attracted the attention of Griffin's neighbors, particularly an old woman who was quite attached to the cat and thought Griffin was torturing it. The invisible cat ended up escaping, but the experiment's success led Griffin to test the formula on himself, painfully enduring the procedure. The next morning he was pleased to see that, while his pupils and the tips of his nails remained somewhat visible, these were faint enough to be barely noticeable. He was effectively invisible. At this point, Griffin's landlord came looking for him, following the cat's apparent disappearance and suspicions that Griffin was a vivisectionist. Thanks to his invisibility, Griffin easily evaded everyone who tried to find him, and left the building, but not before destroying most of his equipment and setting fire to his room to ensure that no one would deduce what he had been working on. Over the next days, Griffin realized the amazing possibilities of his newfound condition, as being invisible would give him complete impunity for anything he might do. He could steal anything and harass anyone without consequences. However, he also found out the difficulties of his situation, as to remain undetected he was forced to wear no clothes, exposing him to the cold, the rain, and, eventually, the snow. He had to clean the mud of his feet, and still left footprints behind him. He also found it exceedingly difficult to move in crowded places without people bumping into him, and to avoid cars when crossing streets, as no one could see him. Even stealing proved far more difficult than he had thought, as people gave chase to him throughout a department store, forcing him to leave everything behind, otherwise he would get caught. Starving and exhausted, Griffin sought shelter in a house where an old man lived alone. When the man detected Griffin's presence, Griffin tied him up. He stole money and clothes, including gloves, scarves and hats, and also invaded the man's store to steal theater itens such as masks, dark glasses, fake noses, fake beards, and wigs. With all that, Griffin put together a disguise that would allow him to walk among people without anyone noticing that he was invisible. Even then, he continued to experience difficulties, for example: not being able to eat in a restaurant, as he would have to remove his mask and reveal his invisible face beneath. On February 9th, Griffin arrived in the town of Iping during the winter and lived in a small inn from February to April, bringing along his books and chemicals. He had most of his face covered in bandages, and claimed that he had suffered an accident. The Iping residents found it odd that this strange man never removed his bandages, never attended church, and never left his room during the day, but gave long walks at night. When Griffin finally ran out of money to pay the rent, he stole more from the vicar, but the people became suspicious, and in the ensuing confusion, he lost all patience and removed his bandages to reveal himself. The townspeople were justifiably terrified and gave chase, so he left his clothes behind and escaped again. Griffin sought help from a man named Thomas Marvel, and forced Marvel to do his bidding and help him in his thefts, but Marvel betrayed Griffin and stole Griffin's books. Griffin vowed to kill him, but lost track of the man and eventually felt the need to invade another house so he could rest before continuing his chase. Coincidentally, he found that the house belonged to an old acquaintance, Dr. Kemp. The increasingly paranoid and delusional Griffin was so happy to meet with someone he believed was intelligent enough to understand the situation that he revealed himself to Kemp. He asked for food, clothes, and tobacco, and even enlisted Kemp's help in his plans to flee from England and find another country to terrorize. At this point, Griffin firmly believed that his condition made him superior and gave him the right to rule over fellow men, and he intended to create what he himself described as a new age and as a "Reign of Terror". Kemp listened to the plans, the story, and the crimes Griffin had committed (and how he thought himself justified in all of them) and pretended to agree. Secretly, he informed the police and tried to have Griffin captured. Griffin was furious about Kemp's betrayal and vowed to kill him, as well as Marvel and anyone else who opposed him. He was once again forced to hide on the streets and spend the night outside, now with the police and a large part of the population looking for him. He killed at least one man, shot the police chief Colonel Adye, and attempted to kill Kemp, but the pursue ended when an entire mob managed to capture and immobilize Griffin. The mob lynched him, and although Kemp tried to stop them, the invisible man ended up dead; his battered body slowly becoming visible again afterwards. In other works A comedic version of Griffin is featured in the Hotel Transylvania animated film trilogy, in which he appears to be inexplicably alive in the 21st century. Unlike the white-haired albino from the novel, this Griffin claims to have red hair, and so might not actually be the same character. Appearances *''The Invisible Man'', by H. G. Wells (1897) *''The Invisible Man'', film (1933) *''Anno Dracula'', by Kim Newman (1992) *''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume One'' (1999 - 2000) *''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II'' (2002 - 2003) *''Hotel Transylvania'' (2012) *''Hotel Transylvania 2'' (2015) *''The Invisible Man'', audio play (2017) *''Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation'' (2018) See also *Geoffrey Radcliffe (The Invisible Man Returns) *Kitty Carroll (The Invisible Woman) *Tommy Nelson (Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man) *Peter Brady (The Invisible Man, 1958 TV series) *Daniel Westin (The Invisible Man, 1975 TV series) *Darien Fawkes (The Invisible Man, 2000 TV series) *Rodney Skinner (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, film) *Sebastian Caine (Hollow Man) Category:Fictional Creatures Category:Sentient Beings Category:Sapient Beings Category:Human Variations Category:Dead Characters Category:Males Category:English Characters Category:Invisible Creatures Category:Inventors Category:Scientists Category:Criminals Category:Characters Debuting in 1897 Category:Creatures Created by H. G. Wells Category:Literary Creatures Category:Comic Book Creatures Category:Movie Creatures Category:Live Action Creatures Category:Animated Creatures Category:Anno Dracula Universe Category:Hotel Transylvania Universe Category:The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Universe Category:Universal Monsters Universe Category:Characters Portrayed by Claude Rains Category:Characters Portrayed by David Spade Category:Characters Portrayed by John Hurt Category:The Invisible Man Universe